Safety-door for lifts.



nu. 715,464.' Patented na. 9. |902.

.1. nAvlEs.

SAFETY D008 F08 LIFTS. l l :Application med Apr. 2s, 1902,) I (NoModel.) 3 Shees-Sheef I.

Patented Dec. 9, |902.

J. DAVIES.

SAFETY D005` FUR LIfTS.

(Application med Apr. 28, 1902,)

(No Mode.)

rl v

Fig 7 wnNEssEs w M g Patentd Bec. '9, 1902i .1. DAvdlEs. Y SAFETY'DOOBFOB `LIFTS. Applicqeifm ma Apk 2s, 1 902.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3` (No Modem.

WII'NESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN DAVIES, OF BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.

SAFETY-oooR-FOR LlFTs.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,464, dated December9, 1902.

Application iiled April 28, 1902.

To all whom t may concern:

Be itknown that LJOHN DAvIns, engineer, a subject of the King of GreatBrit-ain, residing at 3l Cavendish road, in the city of Birmingham,England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Doors for Lifts, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to safety-doors to be used in connectionwith the wells or shafts of passenger and analogous lifts for gainingaccess to the ascending and descending cage, and has for its object toprevent accidents due to the lift-entrances being inadvertently leftopen after the cage has moved away from a particular floor. This objectI propose to attain by the employment of special means, as hereinafterdescribed,` whereby the doors of the entrances to the lift-well on thedilerent Vfloors of a building are automatically and immediately'closedas the cage moves away and also whereby any particular door isautomatically reopened when the cage in ascending or descending isbrought to a standstill behind it.

According to one form of my invention the entrance to the lift-well fromeach room or door through which the cage passes is fitted with a pair ofsliding doors provided with balance weights or springs, the tendency ofwhich is to take and keep the said doors in their closed positions, andin order to gradually move back these doors, so that they shall be wideopen by the time the cage arrives at a floor-level, and then allow themto return, so that they shall be quite shut by the time that the cagehas traveled on to the extent of a half of its length, the backs orinner sides of the said doors are provided with rollers or othercontacts, while the front of the cage is fitted on its opposite sideswith doubleacting inclined planes or cam-like projections, which as theymove past the doors in, ascending or descending with the cage actagainst the rollers, and so slide the doors in opposite directions inopposition to the force of the closing weights or springs and keep thedoors yfully opened so long as the cage remains stationary at thedoor-level but when the cage moves away the doors are automatically andimmediately closed again by the reaction of the springs or weights.Provision Serial No. 105,057. (No model.)

is also made whereby the opening mechanism may be temporarily thrown outof action, so as not to act-upon the doors when the cage is passing aparticular floor without stopping.

Figure l of the accompanying drawings represents diagramatically partofa passenger or like lift in which the entrances or doorways are closedby sliding doors which are automatically opened and closed byself-acting devicesin accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is anotherdiagrammatic view looking from the inside of the lift-well and showingone set of sliding doors closed and another set held fully open by theinclines on the cage-front, the position of the cage being indicatedAbydotted lines, but the inclines are represented in full lines. Fig. 3is a hori zontal section of the lift upon the dotted line 5c, butshowing the cage in full. Fig. 4 is a iront elevation of the cageseparately and upon an enlarged scale. This view shows part of thearrangements provided for throwing the inclines out of action when thelift is required to pass any particular door without opening the same.Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the cage, taken from one side to theother and Fig. 6 is another sectien taken from front to back upon thedotted line as', Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of the liftsimilar to that represented in Fig. 2, but it shows the automaticopening mechanism thrown out of action by placing parts of the inclineson the cage in such positions that they cannot act upon the rollers inpassing behind any particular pair of doors.

The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in theseveral figures of the drawings.

a is the lift well or shaft, and b' b2 are the doorways or entrances onthe floors c c2 for gaining access to the ascending and descending caged ot' the lift, which may be of any well-known type, whether worked byhigh or low pressure hydraulic power or electrically or otherwise, andmay be provided with guiderails, balance-weights, and other usualaccessories.

In the particular arrangement shown in the drawings each of the doorwaysis provided with a pair of horizontally-sliding doors e e, adapted tomove in opposite directions between top and bottom guide-rails c' e2,the

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doors being preferably suspended from the upper rail by means of anarrangement of rollers or runners, such as e3 e4, although I do notconfine myself to this method of mounting the doors, as any otherarrangement may be used so long as the said doors will move freely orwith but little resistance away from or toward one another when actedupon by the opening mechanism.

Each of the doors is connected with a balance-Weight]c through themedium of a cord or chain f', running over a pulley f2 and a secondpulley f3, both situated on the ixed framework, the arrangement beingsuch that the tendency of the weight is constantly to keep the door inits closed position and to automatically take the door back to theclosed position after it has been opened. Instead of balance-weightsanysuitable arrangement of springs may be employed in connection Withthe doors for the same purpose.

The Weights or springs should be sufficiently heavy or strong to insurethe doors closing, but not capable of causing inconvenience or harm toany person inadvertently caught between the closing doors.

At the back of each door is a rollered stud or other projection g,preferably covered with india-rubber to insure silent action and whichis acted upon by means of inclined rails, races, or cam-surfaces fixedon the front of the ascending and descending cage for opening the doorsor sliding them apart in opposition to the closing tendency of thesprings or weights.

In the arrangement shown in the drawings the front of the cage is fittedwith a pair of angular or double-inclined rails, outstanding ribs, orthe like h, disposed one on either side of the opening d in thecage-front and set with the points of the angles facing in oppositedirections. These rails are double-acting-that isV to say, they act uponand open the doors whether the cage is ascending or descending, the topincline 7L of each rail coming into action and opening the door when thecage is going up the well, while the bottom incline 77,2 acts when thecage is going down.

As the cage in ascending or descending approaches the doorway at anyfloor one or other of the inclines of each of the angular or cam-likerails strikes against the rollers of the doors, and by the wiping of theinclines past the rollers the latter are constrained to move laterallyand carry with them the doors, which are automatically opened inopposition to the closing weights or springs, and by the time that thefloor of the case is level with the iloor of the room the rollers are atthe angle of the double-acting inclines,and the doors are fully openedand kept in this position so long as the cage remains stationary; but assoon as it commences to move away the springs or Weights come into playand close the doors.

The arrangement provided whereby the lift attendant retains control ofthe mechanism and may throw the apparatus out of action when the lift ispassing a door which is not required to be opened consists in making theinclined rails in sections-that is, with the ends or other partsmovable, so that they may be turned out of the way to provide clearanceswhich pass over the rollers Without opening the doors. In Figs.v 4, 6,and 7 the movable parts of each rail are marked h3, and they are pivotedat h, so as to turn from their inclined operative positions shown onfull lines to the inoperative or clearance positions indicated by thedotted lines. The pivots or the movable parts are directed through tothe inside of the cage and are there provided with pulleys t', connectedtogether, so as to admit of being moved in unison, by means of anendless rope, cable, or chain fi', which is directed, round suitablerollers or other guides and is actuated by suitable means, such as ahand-lever j, placed within convenient reach of the attendant andconnected to one of the pulleys by the link j'. Any other mechanism,such as a Worm and worm-wheel or other gearing may, however, be employedfor actuating the pulleys and transmitting motion simultaneously to thewhole of the shifting parts'of the rails, so as to make the necessaryclearance or break for the rollers.

The movable portion of the rails may be supported in their operativepositions by means of rests or seatings, such as lo' k2, carried by thecage, these seats arresting the inward movement of the outer ends of theshiftable sections. The innerends of the shiftable sections are providedwith the integral lugs k3 L54, which are adapted to en gage thestationary sections of the rails, so as to limit the outward movement ofthe inner ends of the shiftable sections.

The mechanism may be applied to open and close single doors, Whethersliding, pivoted, or collapsible, and may be adapted to only close thedoors (the opening being performed by hand) or even to open them only.-

Having fully described my invention, what I desire to claim and secureby Letters Patent 1sl. The combination with an elevator-cage and thedoors of an elevator-shaft, of rollers carried by the doors, meansconnected with the doors and with the elevator-shaft for normallyretaining the doors in a closed position, a pair of rails which inclinein opposite directions and each comprising a fixed central section andtwo shiftable end sections, said rails adapted to be secured to theelevatorcage, and means carried by the cage for simultaneously shiftingthe four movable end sections of the rails `from operative toinoperative position.

2. In combination with anv elevator-cage, a pair of rails each inclinedin opposite directions secured to said cage, each of said railsconsisting of a xed central section and two shiftable end sections,means carried by the cage for simultaneously shifting the four movableend sections of the rails from oper- IIO abive to inoperative position,means carried In testimony whereof I have hereunto set by the cage forlimiting the inward-movement my hand in presence of two subscribingWitlo of the outer ends of the shiftable sections and nesses.

means integral with the inner ends of the T shiflsable ends of therails, and adapted to en- JOHN DAX IES' gage the stationary sections ofthe rails for Vibnesses:

limiting the outward movement of the said HENRY SKERRETT,

shiftable sections. I HARRY PRATT.

